The present invention relates to an electric rice cooker and, more particularly, to an electric rice cooker for properly performing auxiliary cooking such as twice cooking and/or steam (ripening) so as to effectively convert beta-starch to alpha-starch after main cooking of rice and water contained in a cooking pot or kettle is completed.
A technique is already known among those skilled in the art in which auxiliary cooking in the "twice cooking" mode is performed to reheat the cooked rice in the cooking kettle, thereby effectively converting beta-starch to alpha-starch and evaporating excessive moisture to cook tasty rice. However, in auxiliary cooking in the "twice cooking" mode, the start time and the operating period of the heater are solely determined by a timer circuit or the like independently of the actual conditions of the cooking kettle. Therefore, when the user wishes to cook a small amount of rice, the bottom portion of the cooked rice gets browned. On the contrary, when the user wishes to cook a large amount of rice, beta-starch cannot be sufficiently converted to alpha-starch. As a result, it is difficult to control the heater in auxiliary cooking in the twice cooking mode in accordance with the actual amount of rice and water.